No Brownie Points

I like to think that I’m a pretty good baker. I’ve got a good understanding of the basic ratios of fat, sugar and flour needed to make a mean cookie and I’m good at judging when a batter is right and when a batter is just not right. But for the life of me, I can’t make brownies.

Part of the problem is that I’m so used to adapting cookies and cake recipes as I go, I think that I can adapt brownie recipes with the same abandon. I can’t. Another part is that I am always incredulous about the number of eggs (three to five) and the super-high sugar content (often more sugar than flour).

Intellectually, I know why the recipes are written this way. I just am so used to not following cookie recipes that I can’t stop myself from improvising when it comes to brownie recipes.

In any case, I accidentally made good brownies today. Here’s the recipe. It’s pretty easy, even for someone like me.

The Accidental Brownie

Ingredients

12 tablespoons of butter

1 cup of sugar

150 grams of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate

3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of flour

½ cut of walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 350

Spray a 9x9-inch pan with some cooking spray.

1. Put the butter, sugar, chocolate, cocoa power and salt into a decent-sized saucepan over low heat. Stir it together as the butter starts to melt. When it’s all melted, take it off of the stove and scrape it into a bowl with a spatula.

2. Whisk in the vanilla extra. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until they’re well-combined and the batter is glossy.

3. Fold in the flour. Don’t over mix it. Fold in the walnuts.

4. Pour it all into the baking pan and pop it into the oven for about 20-25 minutes. You know it’s done when you stick a fork into it and the tines have some moist brownie residue.

5. Cool and enjoy.